Section: The Gulf Today (United Arab Emirates)
Truce holds for first time in eastern Ukraine
KIEV: Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Saturday that the Western-backed truce signed in Minsk in February had been respected this week for the first time, despite pro-Russian rebels claiming a civilian had been killed. “I have some good news. There has been no shooting on the front for a week,” Poroshenko said in televised remarks....
Two of US Air Force’s fighters planes land in Estonia
TALLINN: Two of the US Air Force’s most advanced planes, F-22 Raptor stealth fighters, made a landmark visit to Estonia on Friday, the first time the state-of-the-art aircraft have visited former Soviet territory. The visit comes as tensions are running high with neighbouring Russia over its role in the conflict in Ukraine. The jets landed...
Renewed truce opportunity for Ukraine peace: Nato
Stoltenberg urges Russia to stop backing the rebels, says alliance was getting ‘mixed’ reports from Ukraine, undrescoring that the situation remained ‘very fragile’ VILNIUS: Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday a renewed ceasefire in eastern Ukraine and Kiev’s decentralisation reforms created a new opportunity for peace...
Ukraine outbreak brings polio back to Europe: WHO
GENEVA: Two children in south-western Ukraine have been paralysed by polio, the first outbreak of the disease in Europe since 2010, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday, in a setback for a global eradication campaign. The outbreak occurred because only half of Ukrainian children are immunised against polio, and the risk of...
Ukraine coalition splits over statute amendment
KIEV: The Ukrainian parliament majority showed cracks on Tuesday after a right-wing party said it was exiting the coalition over a measure to give more powers to Ukrainian regions, including the rebel-held east. The announcement from the Radical Party of Oleh Lyashko, which came in fifth in last year’s election, came on the day that two...
Hollande, Merkel and Putin back ceasefire plan for Ukraine
PARIS: France, Germany and Russia back plans for a complete ceasefire in eastern Ukraine from Sept.1, the French presidency said after their respective leaders spoke by telephone on Saturday. Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists, in a gesture to shore up a tenuous ceasefire, agreed on Aug.26 to strive for an end to all truce violations from next...
Soldiers among eight killed in fresh Ukraine clashes
KIEV: Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels on Thursday reported the death of eight people in fresh clashes that erupted despite ongoing talks on a new truce agreement for the separatist east. Government spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said seven Ukrainian servicemen had been killed and 13 injured in fighting that centred mostly around the pro-Russian...
Russian court sentences Ukrainian film director to 20 years in jail
MOSCOW: A Russian court on Tuesday sentenced Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov to 20 years in a high-security penal colony for “terrorist attacks” in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in April 2014, RIA news agency said. The Crimea-born Sentsov pleaded not guilty and denounced the trial as politically driven,...
Ukraine pledges more troops to fend off attacks
KIEV: Ukraine’s president vowed to increase troop numbers to fend off attacks by Russia-backed separatist rebels and warned his countrymen that there is still the threat of a “large-scale invasion,” in an impassioned speech to mark Independence Day on Monday. Speaking during a military parade, President Petro Poroshenko said Ukraine must...
Poroshenko urges unity to fight Russian ‘aggressor’
KIEV: Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called on all political forces in the country on Sunday to rally behind his plans for constitutional change aimed at ending a separatist conflict in the east and defeating what he termed the “Russian aggressor.” Poroshenko used a flag-raising ceremony in Kiev on the eve of Independence Day to make a...
